Dutch electricity transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT is working with German battery storage firm Sonnen, Amsterdam-based energy company Vandebron and IBM to launch pilot projects integrating storage batteries into the power supply system via blockchain technology.
Blockchain, a platform developed by IBM, ensures the verifiability and transparency of the transactions of the small-scale batteries. It is expected to simplify how suppliers of locally distributed flexible energy provide services to support power grid operators in the future.
Philip Schröder, Sonnen’s managing director and chief sales and marketing director, said, “The future of power generation will be composed of millions of small, decentralised power sources, including both prosumers and consumers.
“The blockchain technology is what makes mass simultaneous exchange between all these parties possible in the first place, and is thus the missing link to a decentralised, completely CO2-free energy future.”
Both of TenneT and Sonnen claimed it was the first time the project has been tried anywhere in the world.
Sonnen eServices, the energy part of the Sonnen Group, will provide a network of residential storage lithium-ion batteries in the German pilot project, to help reduce the limitations of wind energy.
In the Netherlands pilot project, Vandebron will work with customers who own an electric vehicle to make the capacity of their car batteries available to help TenneT balance the grid.
Vandebron said it would provide this service to its customers without compromising the availability of their car battery. The blockchain enables each car to participate by recording their availability and their action in response to signals from TenneT.
Urban Keussen, CEO at TenneT, said, “Utilising blockchain technology offers us new ways to network even locally distributed systems both safely and intelligently across multiple regions with one provider.
“This helps us to limit the use of network-stabilising measures, such as the costly regulation of wind farms.”
